The moment he heard the order given by one of the shop-walkers to a subordinate, to run for a policeman, he determined to wait outside to see what was going to happen.
He did not know what was the customary procedure on such occasions, but he imagined that a cab would be called, and that a small party, consisting of the accused person herself, one or more of the shop-assistants, and a policeman, would come out by one of the side-entrances, get in and drive off as quietly as possible to the nearest police-station, where the charge would be preferred.
He thought that perhaps, in such a case, he might be able to be of use, as he could offer to fetch her friends, and bring the necessary and usual testimony to her respectability.
In the meantime, however, he addressed himself to another assistant, who had overheard the order given to fetch the police, and asked him if such occurrences were common there.
The man seemed reluctant to speak, but said that they were very rare.
“I believe, however, sir,” he added, “that this is a bad case, and that we have at last succeeded in catching a woman who has been doing this sort of thing systematically in the big London stores for a considerable time past. She dresses splendidly, and is altogether what we should call a very smart person, and nobody would suspect her of being a thief.”
Gerard wondered whether he should press forward and present himself as a friend of the unhappy woman. But he reflected that this was impossible until he was absolutely, instead of morally, sure of her identity, and he had to content himself with his previously proposed course of conduct.
Before he could carry out his intention, however, he saw the assistant come back with a policeman; and both men, amidst the whispers and questions of such of the customers as noticed the occurrence, passed hurriedly through one department after another, and disappeared into a private room into which all the rest of the persons interested in the affair had retired.
There was great excitement everywhere, which the assistants in vain tried to allay by assuring the customers that nothing of any consequence had taken place.
And in the midst of the excitement, a tall, thin man, tightly buttoned up in a frock-coat, and wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles, came quickly into the stores, and was led into the locked private room where the shop-lifter had been temporarily imprisoned.